DETROIT – Jonas Gustavsson and the Detroit Red Wings have
been a good match for two seasons.

Before long, they'll begin talking about keeping that
relationship intact.

Barring an offer from another team to be their No. 1
goaltender, Gustavsson wants to return for another season – and perhaps many
more – with the Red Wings, who want to retain the unrestricted free agent as
their backup behind Jimmy Howard.

They just have to reach an agreement.

"It's been really fun, a great group of guys and I see a lot of potential
here so yeah, I can see it," Gustavsson said Tuesday after the Red Wings
cleaned out their lockers following a first-round playoff loss to the Boston
Bruins.

"I like it here. If they want me, at that point we would talk
about what they want, terms and all that. But like I said, I like it here. I
could absolutely see myself playing here for 10-15 more years because I had a
lot of fun and as I said, a great group and a really good organization."

After spending the first three seasons of his NHL career in
Toronto, Gustavsson signed a two-year deal in 2012 to be Howard's backup.

He batted injuries during both years in Detroit but proved
to be a valuable commodity this season when Howard was sidelined with a bruised
hand, sore knee and a couple of bouts with the flu.

After getting off to an 8-0-1 start, Gustavsson finished with a
16-5-4 record, 2.63 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in 27 appearances.

But he also battled injuries to his groin (three times), neck and shoulder, causing him to miss a total of 23 games.

"It's been a lot of injuries," said Gustavsson, 29. "You
don't want to have those for yourself and for your team. You want to be out
there to be able to be part of the team every day, every day of the season so
of course that sets me back. That's
obviously something I'm going to keep working on, to prevent injuries like that.

"I felt like I found a way that was working for me at the end of
the season so hopefully I can build on that. The groin felt
really good for the second part of the season for the most part so that's something I'm going to keep working on.

"That's something I need for myself, too, because I want to be
playing at a high level for a long time and I want to try to take the next step
and that's part of taking the next step."

Gustavsson said he didn't know when negotiations with the Red Wings
would begin and he doesn't have a problem serving as Howard's backup if he can't
land a job as another team's No. 1 netminder.

"Obviously I think every athlete wants to be as good as they can
be and reach as high as they can," he said. "But that being said, it's not like
I can go out on the open market and demand a starting role somewhere because there
are a lot of good goalies and you gotta compete to get to that point.

"I'm just going to try to go where I can feel like I can take that
next step. It could be here and if so, that's great. And if nothing happens
here then you look at other stuff."

The Red Wings other options for Howard's backup are to sign an
unrestricted free agent or promote Petr Mrazek from Grand Rapids, where he led
the Griffins to the Calder Cup last year and has them leading the Abbotsford
Heat 2-0 in their first-round AHL series.

Mrazek played well during nine appearances with the Red Wings this
season, posting a 2-4 record, 1.74 GAA, .927 save percentage and two shutouts.

But the Red Wings would prefer to have Mrazek spend another year
in Grand Rapids before promoting him to the NHL fulltime.

"We believe we got a 60-game No. 1 goalie" in Howard, said
general manager Ken Holland. "Is Petr Mrazek, as a 22-year-old, better off
playing 15-18 games in the NHL or is he better off playing 65 games in the AHL
for one more year?